Divided Kingdoms and Empires (400 years)

Solomon's kingdom was eventually divided politically into the North (Israel) and the South (Judah). A religious split also developed between the two kingdoms, with rival temples established in Jerusalem and Bethel.

The southern kingdom of Judah came to occupy the Abel position, centering on Jerusalem. This became the religious center of Judaism. Similarly, the Holy Roman Empire was divided into the East Franks and the West Franks.

In the religious sphere, doctrinal disputes between the Eastern and Western branches of the Church led to a schism and the establishment of the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church. The Roman Catholic Church then became the major object of God's dispensation.

God sent the prophets Elijah and Jeremiah to Israel and Judah to warn them to return to His ways, to worship Him alone, and to practice justice. Similarly, God sent inspired men such as St. Francis and St. Dominic in the west and St. Symeon the New Theologian in the east to call believers to individual piety and warn corrupt leaders of the Church to repent.

When Israel and Judah failed to respond to the prophets, they were invaded by external enemies, and the leading families of Jerusalem were taken into exile in Babylon. Similarly, when the Christian Church failed to repent, it was chastened by Islam.

The Orthodox Church lost much of its land to Muslim expansion, and the Catholic Church was badly defeated in the war of the Crusades. The Crusaders behaved immorally toward the Muslims and also turned on nearly defenseless Jewish populations.

There was even warfare between Catholic and Orthodox Christians in Constantinople. Seven great Crusades were organized and sent out over 200 years; all of them were defeated and failed to restore the Holy Land.